


Height of Insanity

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Crack, Gen, Hurt, Injury, Insanity, Jealousy, Mental Illness, Minor Violence, Misery, One Shot, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-10-18
Updated: 2008-10-18
Packaged: 2017-10-14 23:52:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/154825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Rodney reminisce about some past exhibition members</p>
            </blockquote>





	Height of Insanity

Elizabeth stood at the Control Tower window, the gate technician on duty beside her, and supervised the last few bits of cargo being loaded aboard the Daedelus. One late technician clutching his bag ran up the stairs at the last minute, still speaking with the Atlantis scientist who followed him until they were forced to separate at the Daedelus's door. A few more crates we carried onboard by large marines. One of the hovering dollies that belonged in Atlantis was brought back off the ship. One by one the doors and hatches were all closed and secured.

At last, Col Caldwell's voice came over Elizabeth's earpiece, declaring the ship ready to go. She glanced behind her, received the all clear from her staff, and then replied, giving him permission to launch. She turned back to the window and was almost deafened by the roar of its engines as the Daedelus rose from the East pier. She watched until it was no more than a speck in the sky before turning her attention back to the gateroom.

The other Atlantis personnel who had been watching were already dispersing, making their way to the various corridors and stairs and vanishing into the depths of the city. Two people, however, weren't moving yet, and in fact seemed to be waiting for the others to clear the area. At the same time that Elizabeth identified John's familiar bedhead, Rodney's strident voice rose above the general chatter.

The two men had been watching from the lower level, clearing having taken a break from their work in the jumper bay to come see the Deadelus take off, and now they were watching as the others in the room returned to their own duties.

"Good riddance." Rodney declared, his voice finally reaching Elizabeth through the other's chatter. She knew immediately from the tone of his voice and the way Rodney was favoring his bandaged wrist exactly what he was talking about.

The most unpleasant cargo that Elizabeth had seen transferred this morning, the body of David Hodges, one of Carson's nurses, was currently secure aboard the Daedelus. He had only been in Atlantis for a few months when, apparently out of the blue, he began acting aggressive. He had refused to attend a session with Dr. Heightmeyer, so last week Kate had approached him at dinner, hoping that he would be more inclined to talk in a neutral setting.

Instead he had attacked her, cutting her arms and face. Teyla and Rodney, who had been sitting at the table behind him with the rest of their team, tried to stop the man, but he turned on them. He managed to cut Rodney's wrist and Teyla's side before John and Ronan made it around the table and tackled him. He had died then, Carson said, as his heart sped up to the point of death. In the autopsy analysis, the doctors discovered that Hodges had been taking drugs - a plant found on the mainland that had properties similar to LSD.

Elizabeth knew that John was feeling guilty about not getting to his teammates in time, just as Carson was feeling guilty about not paying enough attention to one of his personnel to notice that the man was on drugs. And she felt guilty too, the way she felt when any of her expedition members were injured.

"So how many does this make now?" Rodney's voice broke through Elizabeth's dark thoughts, causing her to again focus on the two men who were now strolling towards the Jumper Bay stairs.

"What, crazies?" John replied, surprised. "I don't know if I can even remember them all." He paused for a moment, "Well, there was that biologist chick who went Misery on Zelenka…"

"That crazy captain of yours who tried to kill Carson, what's-her-name." Rodney added.

"Yeah! And Lorne's stalker," John supplied, "Oh! And the guy who thought he could get on my team if he just took out Ronon."

Rodney laughed. "That was one of the most amusing things I have ever seen. He was like five feet tall!"

"Or what about that medic that tried to kill you?" John said, laughter fading from his voice.

Rodney scowled at the reminder. "Or the drooling idiot that decided that the best way to become a part of the lead gate team was to take out Teyla, Ford, and I."

"I’d almost forgotten him," John mused "Sgt Andrews. And what about that scientist who went after Elizabeth?"

"Oh, and that guy who tried to kill you!" Rodney snapped his fingers, remembering.

"Oh yeah, the one who tricked me into that rigged lab and tried to flood out part of the pier!" John hitched his shoulder at the memory. They had found him at the last moment, half drowned, with a dislocated shoulder and a broken leg.

"Actually, I meant the guy who tried to kill you when you were in the infirmary after that rockslide on M7X-30R."

"You guys never told me about him." John growled.

Rodney laughed nervously, "Really? Oh, I thought for sure we had. Hey! Let's go visit Teyla in the infirmary before we go back to the Jumpers!"

"Alright." In step, they turned and headed for the other corridor. "So tell me about this rockslide guy."

"Right. Well you were in your little coma-"

"You mean the one I got because my skull was nearly crushed in by a giant boulder?" John interrupted snippily.

"Yes, yes, yes, alright. You were in your very manly and heroic coma, and one of your military goons - the one who got a broken arm from the slide, got disgruntled at having so many bad assignments, so he decided to convince you that you should reassign him to a better team."

"Really?"

"Of course, his method of convincing was waiting until the infirmary was empty and then trying to beat you to death… But Ronan and Carson were still there, visiting Teyla behind her curtain, and they heard the noise. It woke me up too, and you should have seen it! The big guy absolutely wailed on this guy…"

Rodney's voice trailed off as the men moved further under the balcony and out of Elizabeth's hearing range. With a sigh, she turned around, intending to finally return to her office, and found Carson and Radek waiting for her. They had clearly heard the entire conversation, and the scientist appeared to be blushing faintly at the reminder of his experience.

"You know, I think they need to, ah, re-think their standards for psychological, uh, fitness before they send us any more personnel." Radek declared as both men fell in step with Elizabeth.

"Oh, aye." Carson nodded quickly, his eyes slightly wider than normal. "I hadnae realized there were so many…"

"I don’t think any of us really wanted to stop and count them before." Elizabeth frowned. "I spoke with General Landry after the last incident. He spoke to the psychologist who handles our recommendations, and they believe that the problem is at this end."

"What, are they saying tha- that Atlantis is making these people blaznivy? Uh, uh, crazy?" Radek replied quickly.

"Something like that," Elizabeth replied, opening the door to her office. "Their psychologist believes that, unlike the original SGC, we have a bigger problem because our people are constantly surrounded by the 'alienness' of Atlantis. They aren't able to return to their normal homes after work, they aren't able to take leave on Earth, and they're constantly surrounded by people they aren't used to - scientists by military and vise versa."

"But th-th-that's ridiculous!" Radek sputtered.

Elizabeth allowed herself a small smile. "That's what I said. But their psychologist is convinced. He suggested that Kate spend more time with people who appear to be affected by the city." Elizabeth looked down and noticed her report about Hodges. Spending more time with affected people is what lead to Kate's current stay in the infirmary.

"The problem innae Atlantis! The problem is tha' this man is a bloody loon who's sending us folk who're already off their kettles!" Carson burst out.

"I agree," Elizabeth shook her head slightly, "But the SGC doesn't. They say that their psychologist came highly recommended and that he thoroughly checks out every person assigned to Pegasus. He credentials are very prestigious, and I believe that he even knows Kate. They swear the problem can't be on their side."

\--

Three million light years away, in a small dark room deep in the bowels of the SGC, a figure giggled to himself as he hunched over his desk. With quick assurance, he green-lighted another marine for Atlantis, this one with a small past of hallucinating, and a bad experience with pilots in the Middle East. He would provide a perfect foil for that flyboy colonel of theirs.

Setting the marine's file on the accepted pile, he quickly skimmed the next one. Ah, a marine biologist who despised all doctors, particularly psychologists. A perfect addition to the Atlantis expedition. As he began the process of scrubbing the file so that the scientist could be green-lighted, Ken Heightmeyer giggled insanely and began speaking to himself again.

"This'll knock Kate down a notch," he cackled. "They'll realize their mistake soon… They'll see that they sent away the wrong twin… They'll see… They'll be begging me to go to Atlantis… Take that, Katie, my dear!"


End file.
